“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” Henry David Thoreau

It’s a raucous and rebellious New Moon chart, with Mercury the Trickster ruling as Lord of the eclipse. Don’t get too comfortable—life is demanding change, and it could be a wild ride. The fun/scary ratio for your ride on this roller-coaster will depend on your flexibility (on many levels) and your personal natal horoscope. This eclipse chart will be active for at least a year.

Aquarius is an Air sign, and all things having to do with communication, transportation, ideas, information and social interactions are emphasized. You’ll be hearing lots of bright ideas, and visions of a better future alongside some bleeding-edge science and far out conspiracy theories. We’ll be reconsidering or defending our ideals—and clashing over them.

Our job is to sort truth from fallacy, delusion, and outright lies, and to envision the brightest futures we can—because imagination precedes creation.

(Astrology students: Cast the chart for February 15, 4:05 pm Washington, DC, Ascendent 08° Leo 03’. Remember that angles and houses in this chart are specific to the USA, because it is cast for the nation’s capital. You can cast the New Moon chart for your own location, for the capital of your state, for another country to get more specific insights for yourself and your area.

Mercury is Lord of the Eclipse because it is within 2 degrees of conjunction with the New Moon. This is a powerful cluster of Aquarian energy. Aquarian co-rulers Saturn and Uranus are also strong—Saturn in its rulership, tightly sextile Venus, both inconjunct the AS, forming a yod. Uranus (happy in Aries because Aries is always ready for a new adventure) is closely sextile Mercury and the New Moon. In the Washington, DC chart, Uranus is right on the MC and Venus co-rules the 10th.

I’m also looking at the tight approaching square between Mars and Neptune, and the midpoint picture of Pluto on the New Moon/Mars midpoint. Finally, while I’m still studying the dwarf planet Ceres and cautious about using it for prediction, it is tightly conjunct the AS in this chart, and forms a yod with Venus and Saturn, so I expect to see its signature (loss and rebirth, nourishment and nurturance) featured prominently in the national news. See if you can pick out where I write about this aspect below, and don’t forget to look to your houses—in this case, it matters little if you are using Placidus, Koch, Equal or Whole Sign.:-) If you have questions, feel free to bring them to my Facebook page, or contact me here and I’ll answer them in a post.)

There’s a lot of forward motion in this chart, and plenty of opportunities to progress along whatever paths we have laid out for ourselves. If you haven’t checked your personal way ahead lately, you might want to take the time to map it out as best you can, because otherwise, you may find yourself stumbling around in a fog in a landscape filled with pitfalls. Your mind has a built-in searchlight—use it to find your best path into the future.

Your thoughts are key—your everyday thoughts. This doesn’t mean you can’t think “bad” thoughts or feel problematic, unpleasant, or even destructive emotions. It does mean you have to pay attention to your thoughts and differentiate between the ones that are progressive and the ones that keep you running on the hamster wheel of your past, at the mercy of what you carry around unconscious. If you work with them, your thoughts will lead you back to the wound that needs healing.

Of course, if you are going to work with your thoughts you need to be able to accept them, and there will be some that you are not proud of, that you may try to sweep under the carpet. “Oh, I didn’t really mean to have that thought! Shoo!” Some part of you—often your inner child—may be hurt or terrified or lonely or abandoned and lashing out. Don’t run away from that. We all have these feelings sometimes—they are part of being human and learning to create within time and space. They are part of our experience, but we don’t need to act on them. We need to figure out how to heal them.

If you are not proud of some of your thoughts and feelings, that suggests you are a person with a solid sense of ethics and a caring heart. Let that realization in. Let it be a first step in the process of self-acceptance that is necessary to this healing work.

Guidance on the best path ahead for you is also available from your higher self, deities, ancestors, and other spirit guides and allies. Set aside the necessary time to do whatever practices or rituals you use to keep in touch with the spirit world. Note that your mind, your focus, your intention and awareness are needed both for visioning and for receiving guidance, so work on strengthening them. (How? This, this, and this are all good books that will get you started.)

The Big Picture

On an national level, social issues—such as justice, health, groups and organizations—will be highlighted. The country may experience a loss that will open our hearts, and result in new, protective laws, structures, and a change in the emotional nature of our national discourse. Look for progress and/or conflict around creating policies that advance workplace rights, particularly regarding sexual abuse/harassment.

Issues around food, food production, and distribution are highlighted in this chart. As Uranus moves into Taurus this year, problems and solutions in agriculture will become prominent over the next 7 years, and this eclipse chart only emphasizes that. Food security is something we should all be aware of. If you can have a garden, plant one! Support your local farmers. Have enough food stored to get you through at least a month or two.

There is a strong call to action in this chart. For some, it may be a call to arms. Keep in mind that people who are very self-focused are easily manipulated, and there are some very deceptive vibes at work. Actions may be taken for reasons that are unclear or hidden, or from spiritual motivations. Things are not as they seem, particularly in business and the markets.

Work for the health of the communities you are a part of, but keep the big picture in mind. The big picture is government—here in the US, currently more of a corporatocracy than a democracy—and the environment. Burying your head in the sand doesn’t help. At the least, you can vote, and pray/meditate/conjure—whatever brand of “Subtle Activism" you practice.

I think one of the key lessons of Pluto’s long journey through Capricorn is that  government is serious business, requiring skills and experience that can’t be gained overnight. Another key lesson is that government is a life-and-death enterprise. Peoples lives really do depend on decisions made by governmental entities. Good government requires good ethics, along with logic, empathy and intelligence. We seem to be bent on learning this the hard way. You can’t skip this class, because it will affect us all. Think long and hard about what you can do to effect the change you want to see in the world.

As always, if you want some more personal insights into the path ahead, and how this eclipse will intersect with your life, drop me an email here, and we’ll set up a consultation.